Turkey, Syria Trade Fire

Smoke rises from the explosion area after several Syrian shells crashed inside Akcakale town in Turkey on Wednesday.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

By

Joe Parkinson And

Emre Peker

October 3, 2012

ISTANBUL—Turkey fired mortars into Syria on Wednesday, in swift retaliation against what it called deadly Syrian regime shelling earlier in the day on a Turkish border town, heightening international fears over a new flash point in Syria's conflict.

Turkey's strike was the first by a nation against Syria during the mounting chaos that started with last year's uprising against President
Bashar al-Assad.
Earlier Wednesday, Turkey said, Syrian regime forces shelled the Turkish border town of Akcakale, leaving five residents dead, including a mother and children, and wounding nine.

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"Our armed forces by the border have immediately responded to this reprehensible assault," Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's
office said. "Under the rules of engagement and international law, Turkey will never let the Syrian regime's provocations targeting our national security, such as this one, go unanswered."

The Turkish attack puts further pressure on Syria's government, which suffered separate damage Wednesday as rebels targeted security forces in Aleppo with a series of bombings that left at least 33 people dead.

The cross-border attacks appear to open a dangerous new chapter in relations between onetime allies Turkey and Syria. They also reopened the question of whether the tensions would tilt Syria's war toward a regional conflict—setting off calls between world leaders and spurring an emergency late-night meeting Wednesday between Turkey and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

NATO, in a statement after its emergency meeting in Brussels, said it demands the immediate end of "aggressive acts against an ally, and urges the Syrian regime to put an end to flagrant violations of international law." The 28-nation alliance condemned the "continuous shelling of locations in Turkey," saying the attacks presented "a clear and present danger to the security of one of its allies."

Attention will now be focused on whether Ankara's response will be limited to a single retaliatory strike or whether it foreshadows a more sustained military exchange. Turkey threatened to strike more targets inside Syria if attacks from the country are repeated, the Prime Minister's office said.

As Syria's war rages on, Kurdish groups in a remote region near Turkey and Iraq have taken control. It could have huge consequences for Syria's neighbors, who have long suppressed Kurdish populations. WSJ's Turkey Bureau Chief Joe Parkinson reports.

Syria appeared to move to tamp down the conflict. Damascus has started an investigation into the shells that hit Akcakale and expressed its condolences to the relatives of those killed and the Turkish people, Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi told state-run television.

While Turkey blamed Wednesday's attack on the Syrian regime, it remained unclear whether it was a deliberate attack or an errant bombing. Most analysts in Turkey concluded that President Assad had little to gain from targeting Turkish civilians. Syria's Mr. Zoubi urged governments to proceed wisely, suggesting that rebels—"terrorist groups spread across the borders who have varying agendas and identities"—may have been the source of the attack.

Turkey, as a NATO member, is party to the founding treaty that calls, among other things, for consultations and the possibility of collective self-defense in the event of an armed attack on a NATO member.

"The latest event was the last straw," Deputy Prime Minister
Bulent Arinc
said in the western Turkish city of Bursa Wednesday. "Turkey is a sovereign country. There has been an attack against its soil and our citizens have lost their lives. There must be a response for this in international law."

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Photos: Deadly Blasts Rip Through Aleppo

Smoke rose over the Saif Al Dawla district of Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday. Fierce fighting between rebels and government forces continued in Aleppo and Damascus Wednesday. Associated Press

But NATO members have little appetite to act collectively on the issue, diplomats have said.

NATO representatives met in June, at Turkey's request, following the downing of a Turkish jet by Syrian forces. After that meeting—called under Article 4 of the NATO treaty, under which an ally can request consultation when it believes its territorial integrity or security is threatened—the allies said they would "remain seized of developments" on the Turkish-Syrian border. Following the downing, Turkey adopted new rules of engagement for Syria, under which it would retaliate immediately if attacked.

The site of Wednesday's Syrian attack, Akcakale, lies in Turkey's southern province of Sanliurfa. The nearby Syrian border zone has seen heavy fighting between Syrian regime and rebel forces since rebels claimed a border crossing at Tal Abyad, several miles away, late last month. Since then, the Syrian military has shelled Tal Abyad almost daily.

On Wednesday, three Syrian shells fell in Akcakale shortly after 3:30 p.m. local time, said Abdulhakim Ayhan, the town's mayor. Turkey's government said the attack came at around 4:30 p.m. In meetings with NATO officials in Brussels following the attacks, Turkey described repeated mortar and artillery attacks from across the border, according to a diplomat present at the meeting.

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Turkish television networks showed images of smoke rising in an urban area, as policemen and soldiers herded civilians to safety. Turkey's military began to deploy more tanks, special forces and ambulances to the region, the networks reported.

A mother and her four children were killed in the blast, according to Halil Ozcan, a lawmaker representing the province for Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP. A different account said the mortars had killed a mother and her three children as well as a neighbor.

In the aftermath, Turkey called for the urgent NATO meeting, and asked the United Nations Security Council to act to end such acts of aggression. Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu briefed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who pledged U.S. support for Turkey's sovereignty and vowed to support Ankara at the U.N. Security Council, according to State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland.

The U.S. condemned the attack. "This is yet another example of the depraved behavior of the Syrian regime, and why it must go. We regret the loss of life in Turkey, a strong ally, and continue to monitor the situation closely," said Pentagon Press Secretary George Little.

Turkey retaliated immediately against Syria with mortar strikes against locations in the country that had been identified by radar, the Prime Minister's office said.

The strike marks the first time Turkey has shelled a foreign states' armed forces since its incursion into Cyprus which led to the division of the island in 1974, analysts said. Turkey's army, the second largest in NATO, regularly uses heavy armor and fighter jets to attack the positions and bases of the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, inside Northern Iraq with regional authorities' permission.

Turkey appeared to target a military outpost in Tal Abyad, according to two Syrian antigovernment activists. Local clerics in mosques across the district were broadcasting chants of "God is great" in praise of the attack, according to one of the activists, whose account couldn't be independently verified.

At an emergency session of Turkey's parliament on Thursday, Turkey's cabinet is expected to present a measure that would grant the government the authority to retaliate when faced with threats from Syria. Until now, Turkey's rules of engagement allowed the military to act against Syrian elements near the border that it deems as hostile. The measure to be presented Thursday would give Turkey's government the power to strike Syrian territory if deemed necessary to ensure national security.

The prospect of an all-out conflict was growing, analysts said, but remained limited by the fact that Syria's army was still engaged in heavy fighting against lightly armed rebels across the country.

"Turkey's action was proportioned to the attack that it suffered, and it's possible that at this point Syrian military and national leaders will reach the conclusion that they will not provoke Turkey because it will respond strongly," said Ross Wilson, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey from 2005 to 2008.

"I don't think this is a full-scale war, but it's not the end," said Soner Cagpatay, Director of the Turkey program at the Washington Institute, a think tank. "If Assad is rational, he knows it would be suicidal to draw Turkey into the conflict. Turkey's public also still has serious concerns about this war, although the government is now in a better position to muster support."

U.S. and Arab officials questioned, however, whether the Syrian-Turkey clashes might force Iran to further bolster its support for President Assad. Tehran has continued to supply Damascus with arms and funding, despite signs that the Syrian government is losing ground to the rebels, these officials said.

Still, these officials said they were doubtful that Iran and its elite military unit, the Revolutionary Guards, would want to directly engage Turkey and risk drawing in a wider NATO response.

"I think perhaps that could be a stretch for them," said a senior Arab official whose government closely monitors Iran. "They might think that is a bridge too far."

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